Belgrade Offensive

The Belgrade Offensive was an offensive carried out by the Soviet Union, Yugoslav Partisans, and the Tsardom of Bulgaria that liberated the city of Belgrade, the occupied capital of Yugoslavia. After heavy fighting between the communist forces and the primarily-Serbian collaborationist garrison of Belgrade, the city was liberated, and Josip Broz Tito set up a new government to rule over Yugoslavia.

The remnants of Army Group E and the 2nd Panzer Army, which had withdrawn from Romania and Bulgaria in the aftermath of the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive in August 1944, formed "Army Group Serbia" with the Luftwaffe general Alexander Lohr as its commander. As the Bulgarian People's Army liberated southern Yugoslavia from German occupation, the Soviet Red Army met up with the Yugoslav Partisans to liberate the capital of Belgrade. The Germans put up heavy resistance in the city, and the Soviet and Yugoslav forces overran the city on 20 October 1944. The remnants of the German forces withdrew from the Balkans, allowing for the Allies to liberate Yugoslavia and for the Yugoslav partisans to set up a new communist government.